This week, my friend Rebecca shares a surprising, delighting moment at a recent family funeral – to come across an Order of Service recipe. “Pat Mills, died at the end of last year and in my family, that officially marks the End of an Era. Pat and Bunty were legends. They were distant cousins of ours – […]
I’m writing a funeral today and thinking about suicide, the funeral eulogy and breaking the silence.
Thanks to Flinger, Michelle, for sharing this inspiration for writing your own words for a funeral. This time last week, I had the privilege of leading a funeral for Michelle and family to celebrate the life of her dad, Alex. It was a sad day for the family, marking the loss of their generous, spirited, loving, much-loved dad, grandpa, great grandpa, brother, uncle.
What is the problem with death?
There’s a quotation, often wrongly attributed to Einstein and often misquoted, which goes roughly: “if I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spent 55 minutes framing the problem and 5 minutes solving it”. So, I’m wondering, what is the problem with death?
I had an email today from Trevor asking for help to plan for the end on Final Fling. It reminds me that sometimes it’s nice to be hand-held and guided through options in life. Trevor wrote…
I had the bittersweet experience of a funeral for a friend this week. A fine celebration of a life lived well and welcome words expressing not her bravery fighting her cancer but her anger at having to leave before she wanted and her frustration at not having completed her mission to make the world a better place (though for sure, she made a big dent in that one).
Last week Jackie Kay, our wonderful Scots Makar – Scotland’s poet laureate – was one of the guest editors on Woman’s Hour and chose as one of her many fascinating topics, ‘complicated grief’.
To kick off 2016, Jane Duncan Rogers ran a Planning a good death workshop, incorporating her own book, her Good Death Checklist and Final Fling’s planning tools, giving workshoppers the chance to chat, share, think, talk, plan and record. Here, Jane shares a bit about the session and the feedback. Our sell-out Planning a Good Death […]
What’s Princess Diana got to do with the rise of celebrants in the UK? This week, friend of Final Fling, Ken West (pictured with wife Anne) – the UK’s authority on natural burial grounds – shares his knowledge, experience and personal views about the emergence of celebrants in the UK. Ken’s been involved in over […]
SunLife’s annual Cost of Dying 2015 report is out. And the good news is, the cost of dying is down by a whole £300. Which would be great except that’s down to £8,126. Ouch. Within that figure, the cost of a basic funeral is up to £3,693 and a quarter of the total cost, around £2,000 is for “the send-off”.
This summer, Emily did a guest blog for us about the notion of funeral crowdfunding and whether this might some day come to pass. This week, we were contacted by Flendr who are offering to help with just that.
This week we’re delighted to have welcome Barry Ward as our guest blogger. By sharing the eulogy he gave for his wife Christine at her funeral, he hopes to help anyone else faced with writing a eulogy for their partner. Here’s his story…
This week we bring you advice on supporting a child after bereavement from our friends at Winston’s Wish. Each year, Winston’s Wish supports over 30,000 bereaved children and young people after the death of their mum, dad, brother or sister, so that they can face the future with confidence and hope.
We’re grateful to Hugh McAulay for his input on top tips for traditional Scottish funeral music. See our Top 10.
Friend of Final Fling, Jimmy Stewart, is interested in achieving a good death. He became interested in knowing more about the rules and options around end of life after watching his mum die. He’s one of a growing band of us actively interested in managing our options.
I’ve just been talking to a journalist, keen to know about the options for disposing of a body and this has prompted me to share this information. (It still surprises me that this isn’t stuff we all know by now since it’s the one sure fire thing in life – we will all die.)
I’m grateful to friend of Final Fling, Becky, this week for sharing useful information about bereavement fares. Apparently some airlines offer special fares to support travellers rushing back home from travels because someone close to them is dying or has died. It’s not a huge amount – maybe 10% off – but every little helps.
Thanks to our friends at Winston’s Wish for sharing their thoughts on how to offer a child support around the death of a parent.
The SunLife ‘Cost of Dying’ report is out for 2014. Here are their findings:
Latest research reveals the total cost of dying in the UK has risen over 10% in the last year. The cost of dying now averages £8,427. This is seven times higher than the cost of living.
Around the world, there’s a rich tapestry of traditions and practices connected with death.